The Tony Scrum

By Gwen Orel

I went to the Press Reception for Tony nominees (here’s the list of them) on Wednesday, since I will be covering the Tony Awards for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where I first worked as a stringer. You can read my report on last year’s awards here.

The Press Reception is a scene. Held at the Millennium Broadway, right off Times Square. the event parades the nominees through video booths, a photographer’s alley, and a bunch of press stations. As soon as I arrived, I was ushered up to the eighth floor and found my editor, Chris Rawson, and our table. We mostly didn’t stay at it, choosing to hover around the celebs as they made their way around.

That’s how I got this picture of the three kids who play Billy in Billy Elliott, and Sutton Foster from Shrek.

All the food and coffee was on the second floor, where you first check in; I went down to get some after a bit and saw Dolly Parton, composer of 9 to 5 the musical, all in white, with big poufy hair, being welcomed in. She really is teensy in person. And she seemed so sweet. Her show has been nominated for four awards, including one for Parton for best musical score.

“Did she have an entourage?” Chris asked me. She didn’t, but I couldn’t get near her anyway. I wanted to ask her about her interest in Irish music– she sings a duet with Altan lead singer Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh on Altan’s 2002 CD The Blue Idol– but never got a chance. I thought that might be too off-topic, but Chris told me the stars love to be asked about their lives apart from the show. If she wins and is ushered into the press room, I will for sure.

I hugged Marin Ireland, who stars in three-times nominated Reasons to Be Pretty. We did a show together back in the summer of 2001, when she’d just gotten her Equity card, long before she became a downtown darling. She’s amazing in this role (and she’s very pretty herself, but plausible as a girl who’s insecure about it) and I was really happy she got the nom for Best Performance by a Featured Actress since the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk both ignored her. I’m not a huge fan of Neil LaBute, but this play rocks. You need to see it. It’s tight and taught– and thoughtful.

There was a rumor that Tovah Feldshuh was in the house, although the show she powerhouses in, Irena’s Vow was (in my opinion, shamefully) shut-out of the noms, but I didn’t see her.

Saw Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater, posing for many a picture. I also know Oskar from years and years ago– he was the man who first taught me the meaning of the word “dramaturg,” back when he was one, at San Francisco’s now-defunct Eureka Theatre. All of the Hair people looked happy. They will probably win something, though to me it was a slick and inauthentic nostalgia wallow.

As the reception was waning, suddenly press agents were dying to bring people to us. Here came Greg Jbarra, the dad in Billy Elliott– “I love Pittsburgh!” he gushed, and reminisced about shows he’d done in theaters there. “That’s a pro,” remarked my editor as he was ushered down the line. “Up, and prepared.”

Also chatted briefly with Karen Olivo, Anita in West Side Story, who was fiery in a red dress. She had played the role before, she said, when she was 15, but then she was just trying to imitate Chita Rivera. I asked her about singing in Spanish, and she said it transports the audience to another world.

Then the party broke up, as actors and press got ready for their 2 p.m. matinees. Nominations are fun, but the show must go on.

Gwen Orel is a freelance theatre and music critic based in New York.